


breaking and entering

by calmena



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-23 15:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3772933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calmena/pseuds/calmena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry finds a young man hanging from his windowsill.</p>
<p>Or: In which Eggsy gets saved by the bloke whose house he wanted to break into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for another prompt, again in a prompt collection-post somewhere on tumblr. Basically, Harry finds Eggsy hanging from his windowsill because Eggsy tried to break in. Actually more of a pre-pre-slash fic, if such a thing exists.
> 
> There's now also an [Italian version ](http://efpfanfic.net/viewstory.php?sid=3506104)(translated by Lyrtil).

One of the less movie-worthy, glamorous sides of being a spy was that one tended to start sleeping very, very lightly. It was an occupational hazard, really. Once one had woken up surrounded by enemies a few times, one's body just didn’t completely relax anymore, even in sleep.

Or maybe that was really just him, he had never asked any of the other Kingsman agents about their sleeping habits, after all. (Nor did he intend to, for that matter.)

It was, at times, exhausting to wake up because of a car backfiring (too close the sound to a gun going off for his half-asleep brain not to immediately start sending adrenaline pumping through his body), a sound of wood groaning somewhere (was there someone in the house?), even just animals outside (could be enemies communicating in a code).

However innocent the reasons for his waking up usually were, the first few seconds were always spent in tense silence, ready to take the gun from under his pillow if needed. So far, there had never been reason to do so (when he'd been at home). He usually ended up feeling quite foolish about his reaction and making himself tea before he went back to sleep.

This made it all the more surprising that for once, it seemed that Harry's hyper vigilance had not ripped him out of his sleep needlessly. There was a sound coming from his window, and while the scrabbling could well be from an animal of some sort, Harry was almost certain it was not.

Pulling out his gun, he carefully walked closer to the window, ready to take cover if something were thrown through it. Instead, the scratching became louder and a little more frantic.

Which was explained when he found the young man hanging onto his window ledge by what seemed to be the skin of his teeth.

"Shit," Harry cursed thoughtlessly, putting his gun on a nearby chest of drawers, and hastily opening the window to grab at the young man's underarms.

It took only a few moments to haul him into the room, though he dropped to the floor rather gracelessly once he was in, falling back to sit against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Thanks," he gasped, breathing heavily, while Harry's heartbeat was already mostly calm once more, the shock at seeing someone hanging from his windowsill only momentary. If only he could get his gun out of sight without his unforeseen guest noticing, now. It was rather troubling that he sat quite exactly in between Harry and his weapon, a fact Harry had not taken into consideration when placing his gun where it now was.

The young man was finally catching his breath and opening his eyes again, curiously looking around, and while Harry was very interested in an explanation for the presence of his late-night visitor, he needed to get his weapon out of immediate sight.

As it turned out, it only really took one aborted movement for the young man’s gaze to snap back to him and then to catch on the weapon. His following reaction rather convinced Harry of the fact that he wasn’t here to scout his home for some enemy organisation.

It was real shock that flew over his face before he tried for a calming expression that Harry found rather amusing in that moment, raising his hands in an obvious attempt to placate him (as if Harry wasn't entirely calm right then, not that his guest knew that).

"Oi, don't go shootin' at me, yeah? I'mma be out of your hair in a second."

"I don't think so," Harry said before the young man could continue. Considering it was four in the morning he was quite pleasant as well, if he dare say so of himself. His unexpected guest, however, paled as if Harry had threatened him and watched him in obvious apprehension as Harry continued. "I'd rather you stay for a moment and explain to me what exactly you were doing hanging from my windowsill."

Of course by now, Harry was already quite certain he knew what the aim had been, a fact the young man was surely aware of, as his previously white face abruptly flushed a rather dark shade of red in what Harry was reasonably sure was embarrassment. Looking away at the floor, his guest laughed tremulously.

"T'was just a bet, no hard feelings, yeah? I was just tryin' to see if I could climb a house," the young man tried rather valiantly to save the situation, shrugging in self-deprecation. "Didn't think I'd almost _fall_." If Harry hadn't noticed the way his eyes kept flickering toward Harry's gun while he was talking, edging away from it in small, almost unnoticeable movements, he might have even believed it, stupid reason though it might be. He, himself had done plenty of stupid things when he'd been younger, after all.

As it was, however, he was rather convinced that his surprise guest's presence had less to do with an overwhelming urge to prove that he could scale buildings, and more with the fact that Harry hadn't been home during the last three weeks, and his house had probably seemed empty. (Not that it ever was, Harry was reasonably certain Merlin had his ears and eyes in his house somewhere, but he still had yet to actually find anything. It had turned into somewhat of a competition.)

"Of course" Harry said, so blandly he was confident of the belief that his young guest must have picked up on it – as he should. "I am sure it's a completely reasonable pastime to do that."

"So… can I go now?"

"Of course not," Harry shook his head, irrationally amused at the situation now that he was awake and reasonably sure that the young man in front of him had not been sent by someone who might want Harry dead. "I'm going to make tea and then you'll tell me why you thought it might be a good idea to try to break into my home. Or into anyone's home, really."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I don’t even know, either. This was just… a really random thing I NEEDED to write. And somehow I feel like I slighted Eggsy, writing that he didn’t get himself out of the hanging-from-the-windowsill-situation. For the record, he would’ve been just fine without Harry, as well. Harry just reacted too fast.


	2. recurring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggsy becomes something of a fixture in Harry's home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: References to domestic abuse in this one!

What Harry hadn't predicted was that his unexpected visitor would become a recurring one.

Gary – or Eggsy, as he'd asked to be called, and while Harry had known that he'd heard the name before, even then, he had only made the connection a few minutes after the young man had left, cursing himself for taking just a little too long – didn't make whatever mistake had led to him hanging onto Harry's windowsill by his fingertips again. He did, however, seem to be curiously opposed to using the door, much as Harry tried to convince him that it would be the more reasonable choice.

"'m not giving you the chance to ignore me," Eggsy said, joking but for the look in his eyes, so much more serious than his tone tried to conceive, and Harry decided to let him have it, Merlin's grousing about security flaws be damned.

"He only ever gets in if I open my window for him, in any case," Harry said once, and Merlin stared at him in near-betrayal at his admission of breach in security protocol.

"You don't even know him."

"He's not going to steal from me."

"I'm more worried about him _killing you_."

Harry couldn't help the huff of laughter, curiously confident of his next words.

"He's not going to that, either."

* * *

With how much Merlin had cursed him for it, one might expect Eggsy would visit him a lot more often than he really did. So far, it had only been twice after the memorable first incident – often enough to guess at a pattern, but rare enough for it to still be slightly surprising every time Eggsy appeared.

Harry had become adept at stashing his gun in a way that allowed him to open the window for Eggsy and keep it hidden, and still have it in a place that would allow him to defend himself should someone other than Eggsy attempt to enter via the window.

This seemed especially prudent considering Eggsy appeared to be unreasonably fond of turning up in the later hours of the evening, often around midnight or even later.

Harry had the strong suspicion that he simply had nowhere else to go during those times, though he had never actually voiced his thought. Eggsy, for his part, seemed happy to spend a few hours in Harry's company, often falling asleep on his couch after they'd had their by now customary tea, while Harry went back upstairs to continue to sleep.

* * *

"Oh, Harry, just a moment."

Harry stopped, turning around to look back at Merlin with a raised eyebrow. He was quite certain that he had nothing else to add to his debriefing, and, unless he was about to sent back out again right now, neither should Merlin. But then, Merlin had also called him Harry, which indicated that whatever would follow was less Kingsman-business, and of a more personal nature.

"Your guest broke into your house," Merlin explained, and if Harry had been drinking something right then, he would probably have choked. As it was, he only drew up an eyebrow.

Merlin smirked. Probably because his earlier insistence on Eggsy's continuing reappearance being a bad sign for his building security had finally turned out to be true. And also because he was finally confirming Harry's suspicion that his house was bugged somewhere.

Merlin did not, however, actually say anything of the sort, something Harry was very much thankful for, tired as he was.

"Please, don't almost shoot him again, will you? And open the doors when someone knocks tomorrow, that'll be the people who are to re-secure your house."

* * *

Merlin had, however, neglected to mention that Eggsy was sporting a black eye that seemed to span almost half his face.

"What happened to you?" slipped out before Harry could attempt to stifle the words.

Eggsy _laughed_ , and if it sounded a bit more brittle than it usually did, Harry did not remark upon that.

"Your house is a lot harder to break into if you're not here."

"I'm entirely certain my house has not, however, managed the art of self defence."

Eggsy grimaced.

"Yea, that's on me," he said, and it was everything Harry could find out on the topic. Eggsy could be surprisingly close-mouthed if he wanted to be.

Harry could not help but think that it looked a lot like it would if someone had punched Eggsy rather hard in the face. He tried to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach at not actually doing anything to help, and went to find some ice.

* * *

"Didn't want ya to have to call the repair guys again," Eggsy said, smiling up at him from where he was sitting on the porch.

Harry sighed.

"It's raining," he observed, rather uselessly. "It's been raining for the past hour. Have you been sitting here the whole time?"

"I didn't know when you'd be back," Eggsy offered, sheepish, and Harry couldn't help but agree with that, especially since Eggsy hadn't even known that Harry would be coming back that day at all. That did not, however, mean that Harry approved of Eggsy waiting in the rain for him because he could not get into the house.

"Come in, I have something to give you."

* * *

"You gave him a key."

"Yes."

"To your house."

"That is correct."

"...if he lets in someone who ends up killing you, I'm going to laugh."

* * *

"What do you work as, anyway?"

Harry flinched at the way Eggsy shouted through half the house to make sure Harry could hear him in the kitchen, where he was currently making tea.

"You was hardly here last week."

He hadn't been at home at all, actually, not that Eggsy needed to know that (or _should_ , even). However, he did bring up a good point, Harry mused as he stirred sugar into Eggsy's tea, and milk into his own.

"I'm a tailor," he explained, in a way more reasonable volume, if he dare say so of himself, as he wandered back into the living room. "We are sometimes required to travel rather extensively to satisfy our customers."

Eggsy, sitting on the floor in front of the sofa and apparently quite comfortable where he was, snorted, absently reaching for his cup.

"Yea, and I'm the queen. You gonna tell me you always have a gun nearby 'cos that's completely normal for a tailor, too?"

Rather embarrassingly, Harry needed a moment to catch himself before he could answer, and during that short moment, Eggsy had already continued talking in between careful sips of the still too-hot tea.

"'m sure the story behind the fucking stuffed dog in your loo ain't nothing special either, yea? It's fucking weird though, innit?"

"As charming as your speculations may be," Harry interrupted, before Eggsy could go on and cause Harry to be obligated to use an amnesia dart on him, "I'm still just a tailor."

Eggsy snorted into his tea, disbelieving.

* * *

As a Kingsman, it was rare to have long downtimes. In his thirty years of service, the longest Harry could remember being at home while entirely uninjured had been three weeks, and back then everyone had been looking over their shoulders in suspicion of the strange calm.

Now, he'd been back for over a week and he was about going out of his mind. Not only because he wasn't used to the downtime, though that certainly played a big part, but also because in the past eight days, not once had Eggsy come by to visit. In all the time since they had first met, this had never happened, as far as Harry was aware.

This was especially true since Harry had given Eggsy a key to his house – Merlin had let him know that Eggsy appeared about once a week, if not more often, even when Harry wasn't actually there, and he hardly ever did anything more than make himself tea and fall asleep on the sofa. (It should have been strange to know that, but all Harry felt was satisfaction that Eggsy felt safe enough in his home to let down his guard that way.)

And now he hadn't appeared in over ten days, if Merlin was to believed about the time before Harry's return. It was... disquieting.

Right then, Harry hears the sound of a key at the front door. Habit had him reaching for his gun, even as he got up to greet Eggsy in the same movement.

"Harry! You're here!"

It sounded like Eggsy had hoped he wouldn't be home, and when Harry actually saw Eggsy, he could guess why.

"Was my house defending itself again?" he asked idly, ruthlessly suppressing the rage that wanted to bubble up at whoever had done this to Eggsy. At best it would be useless, however at worst it would end up scaring Eggsy off.

Not minding the bruise on his cheekbone, Eggsy pulled a face, though Harry couldn't tell if it was because of whatever was causing him to limp or because he just really didn't want to answer the question.

"Got beat up," he finally said, which was really no answer at all. Harry decided not to focus on that for the moment, because he could still find that out later, and instead went to get ice to put on Eggsy's face and whatever other bruises were hidden.

"You know you are always welcome here?" he asked when he handed Eggsy the dish towels packed with ice, and Eggsy smiled at him, painful as it had to be. Something in Harry's chest clenched at the sight.

"Thanks bruv, but it ain't that easy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You convinced me, so I wrote a second chapter. Lots of jumps in this one. Also, there was supposed to be a kiss, but it just wouldn't happen. I may end up writing another chapter if people are interested, because this is not the end I wanted. We'll see.
> 
> I wrote this instead of the assignment that's due... tomorrow at midnight. Yes, I'm incredibly proud of myself. Not.
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](http://mystatusquo.tumblr.com), I sometimes post previews and ideas and stuff!


	3. opportunities lost and taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggsy steals a car, Harry helps, a bug is found. Not all of it happens in the same scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for how late this is! This was meant to be online almost two days ago, but then uni went and took up all my time...

Eggsy didn't talk about his father much. Harry had yet to find out whether this was because he preferred not to think about him, or if it was just what he had gotten used to doing. A few times Harry almost asked, before he remembered that he was not supposed to know about Eggsy's father. 

He did talk about his mother sometimes, and about his little sister more often still, but the one time he mentioned someone named "Dean" he had turned quiet right afterwards in a way that left a distinctly bad feeling in Harry's stomach and an urge to kill anyone who had ever hurt Eggsy.

"My da' died when I was seven," Eggsy said once, and Harry had the strong suspicion that he was slightly tipsy, which made him glad that Eggsy had used the door and not the window to enter the house this time. Right then, Eggsy was half-lying, half-sitting on his couch and staring at the ceiling, blinking slowly, and Harry couldn't even bring himself to berate him for not taking his shoes off before walking into the sitting room. "Left us all alone."

Harry wanted to tell him that Lee Unwin had been a hero, had saved three other people by sacrificing himself, that one of the people he'd saved had been Harry, himself, and that Lancelot still spoke highly of who should logically have been his rival.

He said nothing, but he put a hand on Eggsy's shoulder in silent support, and ignored the way Eggsy's eyes looked a little glassy when he asked if there was any tea.

* * *

Eggsy stole a car.

Harry didn't know why he was surprised, he had met Eggsy while he'd been trying to break into Harry's house after all, but he was. There was disappointment swirling low in his gut, because Eggsy should know so much better by now, and that had to be the reason why he did what he did, ill-considered decision that it was, getting up to pick Eggsy up, himself.

* * *

He stood in front of the police station, waiting for Eggsy to walk out. Even with how stupid his actions had been, even if Eggsy had managed to get into this mess all on his own, Harry was not going to leave him in it if he actually asked for help for once.

That didn't, however, mean that he wasn't going to tell Eggsy that he'd thought he was better than that.

There was confusion on Eggsy's face when he left the building, probably still surprised that his call had actually managed to change something about the situation he'd found himself in. The quizzical expression on his face only deepened when he found Harry waiting for him on the stairs. 

"What are you doing here?" Eggsy asked, stopping in his tracks, staring.

"I got you released."

And Eggsy might not have had a higher education, might make ill thought out decisions at times, but he certainly wasn't stupid, and it only took him a few moments to get it, the incomprehension melting from his face into a look of almost comical disbelief and – finally – anger.

"You takin' the piss?" he asked, accent just a little stronger now that he was angry, advancing in a way that would have had Harry's instincts perking up if it hadn't been Eggsy.

"I'm afraid not," he said instead, calm as you please, and Eggsy huffed out a breath, shaking his head.

"Fucking shit, I can't believe this."

He sounded frustrated and disappointed and sad, and it made something in Harry's chest curl up painfully. When Eggsy left without saying another word, Harry couldn't even take offence at the lack of manners.

He refused to believe that this would be the last he'd see of Eggsy, because his heart clenched at the mere possibility of it.

* * *

"You should have expected it," Merlin said, when Harry was standing next to him and watching him prepare the information for Lancelot's next mission. Technically, Harry shouldn't even have been there, but he gave no shits about that right then, and Arthur wouldn't know, in any case. The old snob hardly ever left his office, if he could help it.

"Eggsy stealing a car was not something I could have predicted."

"That was not what I meant, and you know it."

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry reminded himself that Eggsy still didn't know what Harry did for a living, and probably wouldn't ever, so he couldn't let him know just how close Harry had come to shooting him just a few moments before, when he'd come home to dark rooms and someone sitting on his couch.

He refused to let either that, or the relief at seeing Eggsy again show, and instead focused on the question he'd been asked.

"I take it you mean about your father?"

"Yea, I fucking mean about my dad. You knew it was me, yea? 'm your fucking charity case or what? Was you feeling _sorry_ for me? That why you didn't call the fucking cops when I tried to break in that first time?"

"No, Eggsy."

Eggsy looked about ready to continue his angry accusations, so Harry explained before he could get started.

"I didn't make the connection until after you had left that first time."

"You're fucking with me."

"I assure you, I'm very much not."

"So you just let fucking strangers in your house who just tried to fucking rob you?"

* * *

"I wanna get my mum and Daisy away from Dean," Eggsy said, and Harry looked up from where he was making tea. For once, it was little more than a calming habit, as he doubted neither Eggsy nor him would be drinking it.

This was the first time Eggsy had mentioned Dean on purpose, and the part of Harry that had wanted to do something about the cause behind Eggsy's injuries since the first time he'd seen the young man with a black eye perked up, because if Eggsy asked him for help, he would do his best that the man never saw the light of day again.

"What can I do?"

Eggsy laughed, but it sounded bitter, and Harry had the overwhelming urge to do whatever necessary to make sure there was no cause for the painful smile to appear on Eggsy's face ever again.

"I don't think there's anything you can do, Harry."

Oh, but he was wrong about that, and if Eggsy had known Harry as he was when he didn't have to hide, Eggsy would have been aware of the challenge he'd just issued.

A few well-placed threats, an investigation that suddenly got an overwhelming amount of evidence, a drug-dealing business cracked wide open.

It took hardly more work than it had taken to get Eggsy released, and when Eggsy came to him and thanked him, the black eye that had stood out starkly against Eggsy's skin the last time Harry had seem him already fading and the cut on his lip almost healed, Harry shook his head.

"I didn't do anything, Eggsy."

It was almost the truth, he certainly would have gone to greater lengths to protect Eggsy if necessary – felt, in fact, that Dean had gotten off lightly, that the solution he had thought of was a temporary at best – but Eggsy just snorted.

"Whatever you say, Harry. Really though, thanks."

* * *

"You do know he is getting dangerously close to figuring you out, Galahad?"

"Yes, I know."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"..."

"If Arthur knew--"

"I'm aware. You don't need to tell me."

* * *

"Harry what the fuck, you bugged your house?"

Harry blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"I ain't fucking stupid, Harry, I know what a fucking bug looks like. Was you afraid I'd steal something or what?"

Harry blinked again, then abruptly turned away from the tea kettle to advance on Eggsy, who was so surprised by the sudden change of demeanour he froze in place.

Taking the bug in question from Eggsy, Harry looked it. There was no question about it, Eggsy was right, it was definitely a bug. One of theirs, too.

"Where did you find it?"

"Uh," Eggsy hesitated for a moment, before he shrugged, scratching at his neck. "One of the plants in the hall, it kinda... fell? And one of the stems broke. And there was a fucking bug in it, Harry!"

Toward the end Eggsy seemed to remember his anger about that, crossing his arms and glowering rather impressively.

Harry tried to suppress the chuckles that wanted to break free, but finally gave in and simply shook his head while he tried to explain as harmlessly and while giving away as little information as he could. In between the absurdity of the situation, and the way Eggsy's expression resembled a pout more than it spoke of actual anger, he wanted to tell the truth, alarmingly.

"A little joke between a friend and me, I'm afraid," he said, and it wasn't even a complete lie, even if it almost felt like one, with how much he wanted to explain the who-how-why. "I'm really sorry you got caught up in it, apparently."

Eggsy looked at him like he'd gone absolutely bonkers.

"You fucking with me? And you still ain't changing your mind about the being a tailor thing, yea?"

Harry didn't even deem that worthy of an answer.

* * *

Merlin was laughing at him.

"I can't believe the boy managed to find the bug," he said, shaking his head. "You must be loosing your touch, Galahad."

"Merlin, kindly do me a favour and shut up."

* * *

"Y'know you don't have to keep up the tailor ruse, right?"

Eggsy was peeling potatoes with a single-mindedness that had seemed amusing only a moment ago. Now, Harry stiffened, turning around and staring at the young man who still didn't look up from the vegetables and continued to ramble.

"There's way too many guns in here for that."

Harry closed his eyes, because of course. He had managed to stumble over one of Merlin's bugs, it was only natural that he would take notice of the guns that Harry kept stashed around the house in not too-obvious places in case anyone ever surprised him in his home.

He should probably have been horrified at the fact that he had become so trusting around Eggsy that he didn't even think he might pose a threat even with the knowledge he had, but Harry really couldn't bring himself to feel that way, not with the way Eggsy smiled at him and seemed to trust him in turn.

All the more did it hurt him to have to do what he was about to do.

"So what, you some sort of spy or something?"

Eggsy laughed, shaking his head as if rebuking himself for being ridiculous and Harry lifted his arm, aiming his watch at the back of Eggsy's neck.

* * *

His glasses beeped.

"Galahad. Arthur wants to see you at the shop in an hour. It's about Lancelot's mission."

Harry looked away from Eggsy, who was whistling to himself and putting away the dishes. He didn't even seem to notice when Harry apparently talked to himself, and gave the okay to Merlin.

He looked at his watch. At Eggsy. Thought about Arthur and Merlin and Kingsman. And decided. Surely the Amnesia dart could wait a little longer. Before dinner would have just been rude. Before leaving Eggsy alone would be irresponsible, in case he had an adverse reaction of some sort.

This could wait until he came back from listening to whatever Arthur wanted to tell him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dunno what it is about this story, I swear, I don't normally jump around so much in one chapter! Also, I mentioned tea a lot?
> 
> I really wanted to tie this back into the movie, so I changed the timeline a little – Eggsy stole the car a bit earlier, so Harry had more time between getting him released and bringing him in as a recruit. I was also really tempted to leave you with an open ending. The paragraphs after the "Galahad"-line were a spontaneous decision, but I think I can leave the story like this.
> 
> For some reason, this chapter was hell to write. I'm still really unhappy with it and I don't even know why. I'm so sorry, everyone! You were so lovely and nice in the comments and with the kudos and I'm so, so sorry, but no amount of editing made this any better. :/
> 
> Now I'll go back to writing the sad soulmate!AU I talked about [on tumblr](http://mystatusquo.tumblr.com) a few days ago.


End file.
